Process of making closures.



N. M. LA FORTE. fROCESS OF MAKING CLOSURES. APPLICATION FILED AUG.2, 1913.

1 ,227, 1 60. Patented May 22, 1917 beverages, were UNIT D] srA-TEs PATENT oFFIoE.

NOBBERT M. LA FORTE, 0F sAmnvioim,

MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE CROWN CORK AND SEAL COMPANY OF BALTIMORE-CITY, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, A CORPORA- 'rxon 0F MARY AN T 0 all whom itzmdyconcern:

. Beit known that I, NOIiBnnTh/LLA Pon'rii, a c tizen of the United State s, residing at Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have in-'- yented certain new and useful Improvei'nents 111' Processes ot Mak ng Closures, fully. de-

scribed and represented Lin the following specification and the accompanying drawmgs, tormmg a part ot the same- This invention-relates to an improvement inprocessesi'or.making closures forbottles and the likes a nd particularly to a-pro'cess of maknig closilres of thattype heretofore known ascrow n corks.

I Closures. oflthe type to which this invention generally. relates have usually-comprised a metallic shell, a sealing disk, and

an intermediate sticking material which is rendered .adhesive by heat and'set by cool-. ing, as, for instance, a mixture of rosin,

cop-a1 and parailin. Usually disks punched from paper impregnated with this adhesive are interposed between the shells and their sealing disks, a su'tiicient degree otheat being employed in the process of manufacture to soften'the sticking, material so that it Would properly adhere to the shelland. the sealing disk. After. heating", according to the'best practice, the assembled parts of the crown arecooled under a-pressure which was maintained until the stickin; material had set; As the crowns required time to cool, the speed of production was correfspondi'ngly limited.

- Closures of the type to avhich theinvcntion relates are made byflautomatic' niachinery in very large quantities and are Widely used for bottling liquids which vary Widelyin their characteristics. l nder some circumstances, the liquids bottled or sealed 'un der'the closure are liable to work through oraround the sealing disk and come in contact .\\'ll'l1 the adhesive. \Vhile tlHS 15 not serious in a large percentage of cases, in

some instances, some liquids, particularly lIljlll'lUllSl)" all'ected either' in appearance or taste by the adhesive. it has not, however, been possible to select ad hesiyes for particular liquids, as the conditions of mai'iufacl'ure govern the adhesive en'iployed irrespective of the particular use to which the closure is to be put, and the adhesives used or suggested for securing the sealing disk of a closure of the type re- Specification of Iletters Patent. 7

Application filed August 2,1913. Serial No. 782,573.

PROCESS or araxme'ctosnnns.

Peasant-y 22, 1917.

ferred to to metal shall have injurio isly aliected some of the liquids or beverages sealed under the closure.

lhe ob ect otthe present invention is to provide a; process for the. manufacture of closures of .the type mentioned which will enable them to be made more rapidly than has heretofore been the case, while atthe same time producing aclosure having ims portant advantages over those heretofore produced. i

In the drawings. I 1

Figure l is asectional .view of acrown closure embodying the invention; l

Fig. 2 is an enlarged edge vie'w of a carrier of fibrousmaterial prepared in accordance with the invention.

' ln' -arr ving out the process in its best embodiment, the sealiue disk and shell are united by a cementing layer comprising a stickingmaterial which is capable of being set orfli'ardened when subjected to heat,

whereby such sticking material, after being rendered adhesive in a-suitable manner, --m'a v be interposed between the scaling disk and shell. a'n-d the whole sub ected to pressure and. heat in order to set the sticking ma--' terial and unite the parts firmly.

l have discovered that an albunnnous substance is especially adapted for carrying out this improved process; Such an albiiniinous substance can be prepared. so that it may be kept'andtransported in a dry condition,--but is readily rendered adhesive by subjecting it to a cheap and easily-applicd--. solvent, such as water. Further, when subs jcctcd to heat. it will set, notwithstanding the prcscnce of the moisture, which-is trapped between the shell and scaling; disk and cannot well be driven oil; Further,

the setting", due to the coagulation of the illlHlIlllIlOllS substance, occurs at a. relatively'low temperature, namely, aboutLlO to 160"- l Further. such an albuniinous substance \vhon once set or coa; |ilated is through the solution an practice, it is convenient and highly advantageous to use a cementing layer comprlsing a carrier of fibrous material, such for example as paper, which is coated on both sides'with the said stickin material. In employing an albuminous su stance as such sticking material, the latter is dissolved in a suitable solvent, such for ex ample as water, the temperature of the solution being maintained low enough to avoid any danger of coagulating or setting the albumin. I have found that a 5% solution of albumin in water is satisfactory for the purpose intended. The solution may beapplied to the fibrous carrier in any suitable way, as for example by passing the carrier then drying said carrier. In order to avoid waste of the sticking material, the carrier of fibrous material may be charged with a suitable filler,

for which purpose a paraffin is very satis- .the fillercharged carrier as a sur ace coating on each side thereof. If a paraffin is the filler employed, the carrier, such as paper,'may be passed through a bath.of the melted paraflin so rapidly that the paraffin cannot thoroughly impregnate the paper; the paper charged with paraffin being then passed between sc 'apers to remove any ex cess. From a paper prepared as just described, suitable disks may be punched to form a cementing layer arranged to be interposed between the shells and sealing disks of the closures. To render the sticking material adhesive in order to obtain the desired union. :1 suitable solvent is brought in contact with it. This may be done in various ways. For example, moisture may be applied to the shcll'and to the sealing disk before the cementing layer is interposed betwcen them. In this case, the stickmg material will absorb the moisture from the shell and sealing disk respectively and thereby will be softened and rendered adhesive. Again. the sealing disk may be treated with a highly hygroscopic material such as glycerin. in which case, under some conditions. the moisture from the glycerin in the scaling disk may suffice to moisten the sticking material adjacent tosaid sculing disk, so that no speciaystep of supplying moisture need be employed. Again, moisture may be applied directly to the cementing layer, as by spraying, by brushes. by rollers, or the like, prior to the insertion .of the cementing layer in the shell. Again,

place between the sealing disk and the shell, 71:

the inside of the shells may be so plied with moisture; disks constituting t e cementing layers may be placed within said shells andmoisture applied to the exterior faces of such disks in a suitable manner, as by spraying. after which the sealingdifiks are put in place.

After the cementing layer with the sticking material in an adhesive condition is in and the parts are brought in close contact 50 as to obtain a good adherence, as for example by the application of pressure to g the closure. the sticking material is subjected to heatln order to set or harden the same and thus permanently unite the shell and sealing disk. For the purpose of accomplishing this result. it is :ulvzmtageous to subject the closure to heat while the parts are still under pressure,.such heat being applied in a manner to raise the temperature of the shell which conducts heat to the cementing layer, until finally the stick ing material of'such cementing layer reaches a point which causes the cementing layer to set. \Vhere the sticking material is an albnminous body, the heat coagulates the albuminand thereby renders it insoluble in potable liquids and incapable of being softened by ordinary degrees ofheat, so that whether or not any further increased temperature occurs in carrying out the process or subsequently, is immaterial, provided such temperature is not high enough to caus a decomposition of the sticking material. This charm-teristic is particularly advantageous where the closures are intended to be used in'sealing receptacles containing materials whicliare to be subsequently subjected to heat, as for. example bottled beers 105 which are to be passed through a pasteurizing process, since the heat of pasteurizing 'annot soften the sticking material and therefore there is no danger of vapors collccting between the shell uiidsealing disk.

It has been found in practice that where a carrier, such as paper, is properly charged with a filler. such as paraffin, and the sticking material then applied. a good adhesion is obtained between the shell and the carrier. andthe scaling disk and the carrier. This seems to be due to the fact that the parallin recedes from the surface of the fibrous material, so that the sticking material attaches itself to the fibrous material of the carrier, thus producing a firm union between the shell and the sealing'disk.

llence, with a carrier having its surface charged with a proper filler and its interior porous. the advantage is obtained that the sticking material is applied to a smooth non- :ibsorbcnt carrier surface andhcnce waste of sticking material is avoided. while on the other hand. when the closure is completed, the sticking material adheres to the surface of the fibrous material so that it may prop erly combine therewith. W

The drawings show in a conventional Way, a carrier of fibrous material such as paper in. the form of a strip, at a, Fig. 2, prepared in accordance with the instructions hereinbcfore set forth. From such a strip disks arepunched out and inserted in the crown I), Fig. 1, as indicated at a. The cork disk 0 is held to the crown by the adhesion of the carrier, as will be fully understood from the description hereinbefo're.

Vlrat I claim is 1. In the 'art of making closures comprising a shell and a sealing disk, the process wlnch consists in chargingeach slde of a carrier of fibrous material with a fusible filler while leaving the 'interior of said car rier porous, coating each side of said charged carrier with a sticking material capable of being set by heat, forming disks from the coated material, subjecting Said disks to the action of a solvent of the stick ing material, interposing said disks between- "which consists in coating paper with a sticking material comprising an albuminous substance, forming a disk from said paper, subjecting said disk to moisture to render the sticking material adhesive, subjecting the moist-coated paper disk to pressure between a shelb and a sealing disk, and subjecting said sticking material to the action of heat to coagulate such albuminous substance. H

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. I

NORBERT M. LA FORTE.

Witnesses H. M. SAITHE,

E. E. LOVELL. 

